Attorneys, judge meet privately in ex-Mayor Silva’s case

Roger Phillips Record Staff Writer @rphillipsblog

Monday

May 6, 2019 at 8:37 AMMay 6, 2019 at 6:24 PM

STOCKTON — Following a 20-minute meeting in the judge’s chambers Monday morning, the attorneys for former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva and his longtime associate, Sharon Simas, indicated their clients’ cases may be headed toward resolution, possibly soon.

“The judge plays a very separate role until we bring something to her,” Sawyer said afterward. “And today we brought something to her — the D.A.’s Office and us.”

Rosenfeld added, “Given the complexity of the case, this is going to take some more time just to get everybody on the same page. … We hope we have something substantive next Monday.”

Prosecutor Robert Himelblau declined to comment on the case, which resumes Monday afternoon.

Silva and Simas, who also did not comment, were indicted late last year on embezzlement, money-laundering and conflict-of-interest charges.

Their case revolves around financial crimes that allegedly took place when Silva was executive director of the Stockton Boys & Girls Club, which lost its national charter in 2013 and is now known as the Stockton Kids Club. Simas was president of the Boys & Girls Club’s board and was Silva’s executive assistant at City Hall when he was mayor from 2013-16.

In a letter to Silva in March 2018, District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar offered a plea deal in a separate financial-malfeasance case brought against the former mayor in early 2017.

Silva rejected that offer, which called for the former Boys & Girls clubhouse on Olympic Circle in east Stockton to be transferred to a conservatorship for “determination of future occupancy by a non-profit organization.”

It is not known if the clubhouse, which houses the Kids Club, is part of the discussion. Rosenfeld previously labeled as “extortion” any call for relinquishment of the clubhouse.

Now, though, the tone is much more amicable.

“We’d like to compliment the D.A.’s Office for engaging the court and us in discussing the merits and the history of this case,” Sawyer said. He added, “Everybody is being very diligent in doing their respective jobs.”

Rosenfeld said, “This case is extraordinarily complex with a tremendous amount of layers, and all the parties are diligently working. At the end of the day the judge has to accept and approve any plea. Given the complexity of this case and, of course, the high-profile nature of it, every ‘t’ needs to be crossed and ever ‘i’ needs to be dotted.”

Asked about his use of the word “plea,” Rosenfeld said, “If I used the word, it wasn’t intended. We’re trying to come to agreements.”